UNIVERSITY students and graduates have nearly double the amount of debt as people who did not go on to higher education, a new study has found – even when student loans are ignored.

People who have attended university are £12,445 in debt on average, excluding student loans, while people who did not typically owe £7,105, credit reference agency Equifax has found.

Nearly half – 47 per cent – of university students and graduates said receiving a student loan made them “more comfortable” with other forms of borrowing.

Equifax’s Paula Roche warned that while graduates tend to earn more and buy houses earlier, their “greater exposure to the credit market is also being driven by a greater familiarity with, or even desensitisation to, borrowing while at university.

“It’s important for all young people to understand the different types of credit available and to have a clear view of how their financial history may influence their ability to access them,” she stressed. 

Levels of anxiety when managing money were found to be high for all young people in the study, which surveyed 3,000 18-to-40-year-olds across Britain.